The Role of International Financial Institutions in Promoting Stability in the Face of Financial Misconduct and the Possible Contribution that Islamic Finance Can Make to Stability

Financial crimes pose a serious threat to the stability and security of the financial system. Financial crimes are tackled via many channels, but a significant role is played by International Financial Institutions (IFIs), which are essentially dependent on the advancement of compliance and integrity-based culture that understands the threats, risks, and actions needed to decrease criminal interference with legitimate businesses and institutions. This thesis examines IFI’s principles, standards and mandates designed to reduce the risk of financial crimes in the international financial system. The prevention regime used by IFIs ranges from employing soft law to a legal framework that requires global cooperative measures and implementation of minimum levels of transparency. IFIs also work to compel disclosure to prevent financial crimes, promote stability and more importantly to create a culture of integrity rather than a culture of compliance. In order to do so, this thesis carries out an analysis of current policies and frameworks adapted by IFIs based on relevant and practical experience. It also evaluates governance structure and decision-making processes with a main focus on compliance issues and how far these are implemented in practice. This thesis also examines whether there is a real threat to the stability of the banking system, and failures of compliance and enforcement measures through a comparative analysis between the American and the British law dealing with financial market regulation and financial crime, through finding lacuna within both systems and evaluating the most rational solutions to promote stability and implement practical compliance. As an example of stability and prosperity in the financial system, this thesis examines the Islamic banking system and whether it is more resilient to financial crime. In conclusion, this thesis analyses the different legal mechanisms and compliance tools within financial institutions through sanctions and cross department regimes, and how far IFIs have the chance to concretely protect the global financial stability. At the end, an assessment and recommendations will be provided.